We decided on a Wine and Food Pairing class. I was anticipating the standard wine/food pairing class, where they just kind of skimmed through what went with what wines, while you sampled some wines along the way. But this class was much cooler than that... I feel like I actually walked away with a bit more knowledge about drinking wine.
The class was a full on sensory class, where Chef Matthew Mejia actually had samples of the different scents you might get when tasting a wine. For example, he had a cup of lemon zest, as well as fresh lemon juice, which gave you the opportunity to really tell the difference, side by side, so that when you took a whiff of you wine, you could distinguish between the two. There was an array of things to smell, including various fruits, spices, and even some cola. Which was crazy when you could actually connect it to one of the reds we tried.He further explained that you don't pair the wine with the food, you pair it with the strongest flavor of a dish. For example, the generic 'red goes with red meat and white goes with white meat/seafood' is that way for a reason... but not because of the meat itself. Typically, seafood gets marinated or doused with some sort of citrus based flavor, so you pair it with a white wine that has the same undertones. So if you have a steak that is actually marinated in a citrus based marinade, where you still taste a citrus flavor in the meat, the same wine could apply, not necessarily a red. It all made so much sense!
Of course, we sampled quite a few wines and had a nice cheese platter to go with it. And it was really cool to take some of what we were learning and actually pick out the right cheeses. It really does make a difference! Needless to say, I left quite excited about choosing wines in the future. For the first time, I feel like I actually have a clue about wine!
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